About 125,000 students belonging to vulnerable sections of society will start earning ₹5,000 per month for a year from December 2 while doing internship in top 500 companies as the Centre on Thursday launched the Prime Minister’s Internship Scheme to enhance employability of youth, a senior official said.
Thus, each intern in the age group of 21-24 years, including those belonging to scheduled caste (SC), scheduled tribes (ST), other backward classes (OBC) and differently abled, would get a package of ₹66,000 in a year of internship, which includes a one-time assistance of ₹6,000, the official said, requesting anonymity. The financial assistance amount will be transferred directly to the accounts of the interns.
The internship scheme, announced in the Union budget by finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on July 23, will follow reservation for SC, ST, OBC and differently abled, applicable in the central government, the official said.
“This is an internship programme; hence it does not provide any job guarantee by the company. But it certainly enhances employability of the intern after completion of internship. It is up to the company to absorb the intern into regular payroll,” another official, working in the ministry of corporate affairs, said, requesting anonymity.
This is a pilot project of the internship scheme announced in the budget. Interns will be provided with financial assistance of ₹5,000 per month, of which ₹4,500 will be disbursed by the government, and ₹500 will be paid by the company from its corporate social responsibility (CSR) fund. In case, any company wishes to provide monthly assistance over and above ₹500, it may do so from its own funds, he said.
Additionally, each intern will get a one-time grant of ₹6,000 for incidentals by the government upon joining the place of internship, he said. The pilot project would cost ₹800 crore. “This is a pilot project, initially covering 1.25 lakh (125,000) interns in the current financial year. After completing the due process of registration and selection, they will be on the shop floor by December 2. Based on the experience, the scheme will be launched nationwide,” the first official said.
The government has a target to cover 10 million youth under the scheme in five years. Announcing the proposal in her budget speech on July 23, Sitharaman said the government would launch “a comprehensive scheme for providing internship opportunities in 500 top companies to 1 crore (10 million) youth in five years. They will gain exposure for 12 months to real-life business environment, varied professions and employment opportunities.”
“An internship allowance of ₹5,000 per month along with a one-time assistance of ₹6,000 will be provided. Companies will be expected to bear the training cost and 10 per cent of the internship cost from their CSR funds,” she said in her budget speech.
The scheme will be implemented through the online portal ‘www.pminternship.mca.gov.in’ developed by the corporate affairs ministry, the second official said. Eligible aspirants can register themselves from October 12 to 25. They will be shortlisted on October 26, following which candidates will be selected by companies from October 27 to November 7. The selected candidates will have time from November 8 to 15 to accept the offer, he said.
“If a candidate does not accept the first offer, he or she would get two more offers so as to work in a place of his or her choice,” he said. Care will be taken so that a candidate gets internship offer in a nearby place of his residence — either in the same district or nearby district or within the same state.
In stakeholders’ consultation, some companies offered to provide food and transport to the candidate, which is completely their choice, he said. Top 500 companies for the scheme have been identified on the basis of their average CSR spent in the last three years.
“As on today (Thursday) afternoon, 1,077 offers have been made by three companies — Alembic, Mahindra & Mahindra, and Max Life Insurance,” the first official said, adding that industry associations such as CII, Ficci and Assocham are supporting the scheme. So far, the pilot project is concentrated in seven districts of four states — one district each in Telangana and Uttarakhand, two districts in Gujarat, and three in Maharashtra.
With industries grappling with a growing talent shortage, the PM Internship Scheme provides a crucial bridge, said CII director general Chandrajit Banerjee. “By offering on-the-job training to youth, it will prepare them to meet the evolving Industry demands, while ensuring that businesses get access to a skilled and agile future workforce, fostering progress and innovation,” he added.
The scheme is, however, not open for affluent taxpayer class or offspring of permanent government employees, the second official said. A candidate is ineligible if income of any of the family member exceeds ₹8 lakh for FY 2023-24, he said.
Graduates from IITs, IIMs, National Law Universities, IISER, NIDs, and IIITs and those having qualifications such as CA, CMA, CS, MBBS, BDS, MBA, any master’s or higher degree are ineligible to apply for internship under the scheme, he said.
Youth aged between 21 and 24 (as on the last date for submission of application), who are not employed full-time and not engaged in full-time education, are eligible to avail the scheme. Candidates enrolled in online or distance-learning programmes are also eligible to apply. For educational qualification, eligible candidates are those who have passed high school, higher secondary school, possess a certificate from an ITI, hold a diploma from a polytechnic institute, or are graduates with degrees such as BA, BSc, BCom, BCA, BBA, and B Pharma.
The corporate affairs ministry has partnered with Bhaskaracharya National Institute for Space Applications and Geo-informatics (BISAG-N) to run the project. BISAG-N is an autonomous scientific society under the ministry of electronics and information technology (MeitY).